Driving and scanning mechanism for magnetic tape handling equipment



Dc. 2, 1952 c. c. POND 2,620,404

DRIVING AND SCANNING MECHANISM FOR MAGNETIC TAPE HANDLING EQUIPMENT Filed July 7. 1949 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 imm/w Dec. 2, 1952 Vc; C POND v 2,620,404

DRIVING ND S'CAN'NING MECHANISM FOR' MAGNETIC TAPE HANDLING EQUIPMENT Filed July 7. 1949 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Patented Dec. 2, 1952 UNITED STAT DRIVING AND SCANNING MECHANISM MAGNETIC TAPE HANDLING EQUIPMENT Chester C. Pond, Melrose Park, Pa., assigner to The International Electronics Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania y Application July 7, 1.949, Serial No. 103,352 y `6 Claims.

. 1 This invention relates -to equipment for use with magnetic tape records and :the invention is especially concerned with certain features of the tape drive l 'mechanism and the tape scanning mechanism and with controls forcoordinating the operation of these mechanisms.

A'inachine of the character to which .the invention" is especially directed is shown inthe copendin'g-application of Frank J. Reed andv Lloyd J. Bobb, Serial No. 101,053, filed June 24, 1949. In general, such a machine comprises a pair of reels between Which a tape record is adapted to be fed. A driving capstan is arranged to drivingly engage th'e'tape in the path of feed between the reels and both theV reels and the capstan are advantageously arranged for reversible drive, so -that the tape may be' fed in either direction. A further feature of f cording or playing one track in one direction and another track in the reverse direction, so that upon completion of both tracks, the tape record is rewound and' ready for reuse. l

A' machine of the above type also includes reel drive mechanism providing for selective drive of either ree1,so that the tape may be taken up on either reel as it is fed thereto by the driving c apstan. In the system, as described, where side-bysidetracks are utilized on the tape, the recording'headvis adjustably shifted from one track to theother concurrently with adjustment of the reel drive to effect the take-up drive of one reel or-the other. l

:Briefly described, theV invention is concerned with means interlocking the operation of the reel drive mechanism and the shifting of the recordingf head. According V-t'o the invention bothA of these functions are performed by a single actuating element and provision is made for adjusting the relationships of the parts, so that the movements of both the recording head and of the selective reel drive may be properly coordinated withl respect to the movements of said common actuating element.

It is also an object of the invention to provide simple and accurate adjustability of the recording head, both with respect to the extent of shiftlng movement thereof and also with respect to the mean position of `the headwith relation to the tape.

`-`A further object of the invention is the provision of a'novel-selective reel drive mechanism 2 arranged not only to ensure positive action but also to minimize tendencies to chatter or'in'troduce other undesirable oscillations or vibrations.

How the foregoing and other objects and advantages are attained will'appear more fullyfrom the accompanying description referring to.y the accompanying drawings, in which-- w .y l Figure 1 is a top plan view of a machine coni-.- structed according to the present invention,v ceritain parts being shown merely'in outline for .the sake of simplicity; l I l Figure 2 is a view taken substantiallylas indicated by the line 2-2 on Figure 1;l a 'i i1 Figure 3 is a plan section of certain of the drive and scanning mechanisms; w l: Figure-4 is an enlarged view of the` interlock,.- ing control mechanism for the movements -of the recording head and for adjustment of thesselective reel drive; and I Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view of.' cer-tain details, this view being shown on the scalel of Figure 4 but being taken as indicated by the 'section line 5-5 on Figure 1. n The machine shown in Figure 1 is built up ona lmounting plate 6 and incorporates a v'pair'of reel spindles 1 and adapted respectively to'niount the reels 9 and I0. Thetape T is vadapted-to :be fed between the reels, the said path being dened in part by a pair of guide posts II and I2. The tape driving capstan I3 is arranged to drivingly engage the tape in the path of feed between the guide posts II and I2. l.

The tape may be retained in drivingeng'agement with the capstan I3 by means of 'aV pair of shiftably movable guide elements lIIand I5 which are carried respectively on pivoted-arms I6 and I1. These arms are arranged 'to be moved by the control lever- I8' betweenv the full-line position shown in Figure 1 and the dotted-line positions of the guide elements Hand I5 `which are shown in this same figure at [I4a and I5a.

`The control mechanism for eiecting' movement of these guide elements and of the arms" I6 and I1 forms no part of the present invention per' se and therefore need not be considered in-Idetail herein. It may be mentioned, however, that a full disclosure of these parts appears in the copending application above referred to. The'ta'p'e may readily be threaded in the machine when the arms I6 and I'I are moved outwardly to the full-line position of Figure 1, but accuracy vof drive of the tape by the capstan I3 is maintained when the guide elements I4 and I5 occupy the inner positions.

' The capstan is mounted on a'shaft I9`jourinaled in a housing 20 suspended from the base board 6 of the machine and at its lower end the shaft I9 carries a capstan driving wheel 2|. The capstan driving wheel 2| is adapted to be driven by the motor indicated at 22. The motor is shiftably mounted by means of bracket supports 23 which are journaled for oscillation and rotation about the axis of reel spindle 8. The motor shaft 24 is adapted in one position to be directly engaged with the capstan driving wheel 2|, as indicated at 24a in Figure 3; andin the other position the motor shaft is adapted to `drive the capstan driving wheel through the pivotally mounted idler wheel 25. The motor isv adapted to be shifted from one position lto the other by means of the reversing control lever 26 mounted on the reversing control shaft 21,-the linkage` providing for the shift of the motor forming no part of the present invention per se but being described in the copending application above referred to andalso in the `copending application off Burnham E. Stone, Serial No. 19,913, led Aprl'Q, 1948,` and assigned to the assignee of the present application.

There'els yare adapted to be selectively driven so'Vv asv to take up the tape thereon, depending upon the direction of drive of the capstan I3. For this purpose-the reel shaft 'I has a driving wheel 28,'mounted thereon and connected with the'shaft 'l through a slip clutch 29. Similar parts identified by the numerals 30 and 3| are provided for the reel spindle 8. |The two wheels 28 and 3|) are shown in outline in Figure 3 and from this view it will be seen that these wheels are adapted to be driven from the capstan driving wheell 2| by means of rollers 32 and 33. These rollers are mounted on arms 34 and 33 which are pivoted to the oscillatable beam 36, the beam in turn being journaled .for oscillative movementabout the axis of the capstan driving shaft I9.l The two arms and thus the rollers 32" and' 33' carried thereby are yieldingly urged toward each other by means of a spring 31. When thev beam 36 is oscillated in one direction the roller 32 interengages the wheels 2| and 28, theroller 33 being. at this time disengaged from thewheel 30. In the other position of oscillation-,ofthe beam 35 the roller 33 interengages Wheels `2| and 30 the roller 32 being disengaged atthis-gtime. The. beam 36 is biased to one positionor another by means of a bias spring 33 best seen in Figure 4 and described hereinafter in connection with that gure. l

At'this point attentiony is called to'thearrangement of the magnetic recording-playback head 33; .This head is carried by a post 40 with which a-pai-r'of straps 4| cooperate, the straps being clamped to the post as' by means of a. screw 42 andtherefore being adjustable verticallywith respect to the post 40. The other ends ofthe straps-4| are also clamped to a pivot pin 43 as by'a screwv 44. The pivot pin 43 is-mounted in a.- pair ofsleeves 45 and 45a carried by ar bracket 46- depending from the base plate S of the machine. Y

A spring 41 surrounding the pivot pin 43 and connected to the sleeve 45 and to the brackets 4| serves to yieldingly urge the pivot pin and thus therecording head downwardly and serves further to apply abias to the brackets 4| tending to movethe recording head toward the capstan |3, to eng-age the tape thereon. Means are also providedI for displacing the recordingheadaway from the capstan, for instance to the Yfull-line position shown in'. Figures 1 and 3. Such means need not be considered herein since they form no part of the present invention per se, but it is mentioned that an arrangement for this purpose is fully disclosed in the copending application of Frank J. Reed and Lloyd J. Bobb hereinabove identied. It may be briefly mentioned that the control for displacing therecording head away from the capstanv is connected with the control lever I8 which also moves the tape threading arms I6 and between their inner and outer positions. When the tape threading arms are moved to the outer position the recording head is displaced against the action of spring 41 above referredl to.

Because of the Vmounting of the recording head described and also shown in Figures 4 and 5, the recording head is not only pivotally movable toward and away from the capstan but is further vertically shiftable so as to bring the pole pieces of the head into registry with diierent tracks onv thetape.l It is contemplated that this'sh'ifting be utilizedfor -recording or playingback'first one track towardone edge of the tape, running in one direction, and then another track, toward the other edge of the tape, running in the opposite direction.

One of the important features of this invention is the arrangement of parts for controlling the movement of the idler -beamv 33 and vfor controlling the shifting movement of the recording head 39. For the purpose just mentioned the reversing control shaft 21 carries an arm 48 to which is connected the push-pull member 49 supported at its free end in avslot formed in the ldepending bracket 5i) (see-,Figure 2'). This;member 49 has an inclined or oamming portion l5|I adapted to engage the lower projecting end of the pivot pin 43 so as'to raise this pivot pin when the member 49 isfmoved toward the left when viewed as in Figure 4 and so as to-permit lowering of the pin under the'action of spring 4'! when the member 49 is moved to the right.

From examination of Figure 4 it will further be seen that this same reciprocatory movement of the member 49serves to deflect the spring nger 38 which biases the idler Ybeam 36 in one direction or the other. This spring nger is advantageously fastened by means of a screw 52, to a bracket- 53 connnected with the beam 36. The arrangement Yofthe spring linger 38 and the adjustable parts 52 and 53 provides for exceedingly simple and yet positive Vadjustment-0f the biasing action of the-spring nger 38. This is an important factorin eliminating tendency for the idler beam 36 and also for the rollers 32 and 33 to chatter. smoothness of operation of these driving parts is of advantage since equipment of this character is highly sensitive to variations or fluctuations in driving speed of the tape, the Vconsequence of such variations being introduction of wow as is well known.

The arrangement of the mounting parts for the recording head 33 provides an exceedingly simple and convenient system for making initial settings of the position of the head with relation to the tape. In the `first place the screw 42 and the clamping brackets 4| comprise an exceedingly simple adjustment by means of which the angular position of the head 33 may be regulated and further by means of which the overall or average vertical position of the head may be adjusted. The extent of vertical throw ofthe head when shifted from one track to another can readily be set with the use of a gaugefor the like, for instance a gauge bridging the space between the upper edge of the sleeve 45 and the lowermost position of the bottom end of the pin 43 desired. The selected or adjusted relative positions of the pin and of the brackets may conveniently be fixed by means of the fastening screw 44.

Because of the arrangements described above, the sleeve or collar 45 serves as the means determining the extent of vertical throw of the recording head when shifting from one track to another. When moving in the downward direction, the downward movement is limited by engagement of the bracket elements Zi-4I with the upper end of the collar 45d. Movement in the upward direction is limited by engagement of the lifting cam 5| with the lower surface of the collar 49a. Accuracy of throw from one track to the other is thereby ensured. It is also noted that when the member 49 is moved toward the right when viewed as in Figure 4, for instance to the dotted-line showing at 49d, the lower end of the pin 43 is out of engagement with the member 49, so as to ensure that the lower position of the head will be determined by engagement of the bracket members 4i with the upper end of the collar 45a.

According to the foregoing provision is made for simple and yet accurate adjustments of both the recording head and of the biasing action on the idler beam 36. At the same time, the shifting movements of the recording head and of the idler beam 36 are controlled in common by a single very simple control element, i. e., the pushpull member 49, which is connected with an arm mounted on the main reversing shaft 2l.

It will be understood that a machine of the general character described above would include parts in addition to those already discussed. However, a number of such parts have been omitted from the disclosure herein for the sake of clarity but for further details reference may be had to the copending application of Frank J. Reed and Lloyd J. Bobb identied above.

I claim:

1. Equipment for use with magnetic tape records comprising in combination with a pair of reels between which a tape is adapted to be fed, a tape driving capstan adapted to engage a tape in the path of feed between the reels, reel drive mechanism adapted alternatively to drive one reel or the other, a magnetic scanning device with a mount therefor shiftable with respect to the tape to position the head to register with difierent side-by-side tracks on the tape, and mechanism coordinating adjustment of the reel drive with shifting movement of the scanning device comprising a push-pull member carrying a cam surface engaging the mount for the scanning device for shifting the scanning device and an operating connection extended to the reel drive mechanism.

2. Equipment for use with magnetic tape recoids comprising in combination with a pair of reels between Which a tape is adapted to be fed, a magnetic scanning device shiftable with respect to the tape, reel drive mechanism comprising an oscillatable beam carrying drive elements adapted in one position of the beam to effect drive of one of the reels and in the other position of the beam to effect drive of the other reel, and mechanism for coordinating adjustment of the reel drive and shifting movement of the scanning device, comprising a manually operable member having a cam surface adapted to shift the scanning device, and a spring finger interconnecting said member and said beam.

3. in equipment for use with magnetic tape records, a scanning device arranged for shifting movement to scan different tracks on a tape, a post for supporting said device, a bracket projecting laterally from said post and connected therewith, the bracket and post being relatively adjustable to different fixed positions along the axis of the post, and a pivot connected with the bracket and mounted for Vertical shifting movement and further providing an axis for swinging movement of the bracket and of the scanning device, the pivot and bracket being relatively adjustable to different fixed positions alongthe axis of the pivot.

4. A construction according to claim 3 and further including a bearing collar for said pivot associated with the pivot so that in one axial position of the pivot the pivot projects beyond one end of the bearing collar and in another position the end of the pivot lies flush with said end of the collar, and a yielding cam element shiftable across said end of the collar to effect axial shifting movement of said pivot.

5. A magnetic scanning head mounting and adjustment mechanism comprising a pivot pin on which the scanning head is mounted, an adjustment device providing for adjustment of the position of the scanning head to different positions axially of the pivot pin, a collar in which said pivot pin is axially shiftable between one position in which the pin projects from one end of the collar and another position in which the end of the pin lies flush with said end of the collar, and a cam element movable across said end of the collar and providing for shifting of the pivot pin between said positions.

6. A construction according to claim 5 and further including an adjustable stop device on the pivot pin adapted to engage the opposite end of said collar to limit the extent of axial movement 'of the pin in one direction.

CHESTER C. POND'.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,032,190 Thomas Feb. 25, 1936 2,275,961 Heller Mar. 10, 1942 2,349,018 Tasker May 16, 1944 2,365,691 Fodor Dec. 26, 1944 2,369,017 Camras Feb. 6, 1945 2,408,320 Kuhlick Sept. 24, 1946 2,418,543 Camras Apr. 8, 1947 2,468,198 Heller Apr. 26, 1949 

